Around the Bay

Last weekend was Around the Bay, and my first time riding over the West Gate. All the extra riding and training really paid off, with my friend and I leading one of the front packs for the ride! We were super lucky with the weather, and the rain held off until after we finished our event. We did have one unfortunate event where my friend broke a spoke on his front wheel within the last 10km of the ride. Luckily we were able to perform some road side maintenance and get us both home. We both felt fantastic after the ride, and we still rode home, building up those much needed km's!

We're now onto the last week, and Summer and myself will be hitting it every day this week to smash out the remaining of this challenge. While the weather hasn't been the greatest this week, Summer like always has been the best support cheering us with her best rendition of wheels on the bus. I was feeling a bit rough yesterday with my legs struggling to muster the strength to keep up with my wife's E-bike. However, I had a fantastic sleep last night and I have bounced back today posting a much better time for my lunch ride.

Again I'd like to thank everyone who has supported this journey, $2,500 is such an incredible amount of money and I'm so appreciative of all the support we've received. We promise we won't let you all down and hit our goal!

Third Week Update!

Summer and I are still smashing it out! We've even been increasing our weekly kilometers as we edge closer to the end of this challenge! The amount of support we've received has really kept us going, and it's through this support that I've finally landed on our final goal of 1,400 km's. I've roughly calculated the requirements, and we need to keep up our current pace (plus a little extra) to ride this challenge home! I'd like to extend a massive thank you for everyone who has supported us through this challenge and have donated to such a good cause, it's amazing to see how much we've managed to raise!

As for this week it's much the same, Summer and myself are riding our usual 30km per day commute. She's been the best supporter during these rides, acting as my very own personal cheer leader. She's a little bit of a pop star at the moment, singing along during our rides, with her two favourite songs to sing at the moment being Wheels of the Bus, and Mashed Potato.

I also thought it might be nice to show a little about what this challenge involves for us, and the gear we're using to compete. Summer and Myself ride our usual daily commute on my daily rider a steel framed touring bike (the green bike in the photo) that I have nicknamed "Wolvenstein". The bike is a combination of a Soma Wolverine frame, with pieces from a Trek 520 that unfortunately had severe frame defect that led it to become retired. The name comes from a combination of Wolverine, and Frankenstein. I also took some inspiration from ID Software, and their games I grew up with as a child. The bike should however be renamed as "Summer's Chariot", as it has been decked out to support her. Sporting her own speaker, a dedicated snack bag, moral support animal (猴子), and pannier bags mostly filled with her supplies. This bike is a 30kg+ truck that is making up for a good 600km of this challenge!

My other bike is a Merida road bike, and my first ever serious road bike I purchased second hand after I finished University. This bike reflect a major turning point in my life, as I used to be obese before I got in to cycling. In my 20's I used to weigh over 120kg and it was riding that helped me break away from that lifestyle. What started as a few commutes a day turned into a real passion that took me away from my small hometown I grew up in, and got me to University, and finally Melbourne. After studying I was able to purchase this bike, and I used to take the VLine into Melbourne with this bike, and rode it to apply for my first job here. it's these changes in my life that allowed me to meet my future best friend, my life partner, and the mother of our daughter. Cycling has personally transformed my life for the better, and I'm so glad that I can dedicate this passion to also better the lives of others!

Half Way Point

I have fantastic news, my daughter is feeling much better! We'll be back on our normal commute, with her singing along as always! Today is Daddy Daughter Date night, so we'll be heading through Coburg to grab our favourite pasta for dinner.

Today I helped organize Ride2Work with my company and we had our biggest turnout yet, with over a third of the company participating. It's awesome to see people try out a greener healthier mode of transport, and I hope to see more riding into the future!

Weekend Update (Round 2)

Unfortunately my daughter has been unwell and we haven't been able to do our regular commute. She's on the mend however, and we will hopefully be returning back to tomorrow!

I was able to fit in a decent ride on the weekend while I was visiting my family. A slightly sketchy ride on country roads, with a bunch of roos as riding buddies, and best of all, an amazing sunrise!

I'm officially at the half way point to 1,000km, and only 1 more weekend before Around the Bay. My fitness is feeling great, and I'm keen on smashing out the remainder of this challenge!

I didn't take any photos this weekend, and instead I have an old photo of how my daughter and myself tackled frosty winter mornings!

Goal Update!

Summer and myself are smashing our 600km goal, so we're upping the target to 1,000km!

This little girl makes all the effort worth it!

Weekend Update

I had my first long session on the saddle this past Sunday. My friend and I had a good ride down beach rd and rode over 90km for the day. The wind was fantastic on the way down, but boy it did not disappoint on the way back.

On Monday I was expecting to just do roughly 30km without going too hard, however after getting going I felt so good that I ended up having a really great 45km session with some new PB's.

I'm almost half way to my 600km goal, and it's looking like I might be able to increase this to 1000km.

Training

I've started my training for Around the Bay with hill sprints near Jacana. Starting at 5am, my cycling buddy Tristan joined me for the session. It was a good start to the day but my legs are feeling it now. I also really need to get my road bike serviced, it's desperately needing it.

First Day!

First week is almost done! Unfortunately Melbourne has really come out swinging with the bad weather, but it hasn't stopped us! The 1st of October was Daddy/Daughter date night where we grab detour through Coburg to grab pasta for dinner. Needed a slight refuel stop for my daughter, but it was a nice first day.

The challenge begins!

We're prepared! Our last ride before the challenge hit us with some rough weather, but it won't stop us!